True Blood's Sam Trammell Previews Sunday's Finale

True Blood's Sam Trammell took a cue from his character Sam Merlotte's recent antics when he joined stars like Renee Zellweger, Mark Harmon, Sofia Vergara, Adam Sandler and Sally Field at the Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon Friday in Los Angeles. "Sam's been a pushover for two seasons, and this year he finally decided to stop taking it," Trammel, who attended the event in memory of his grandmother, told TV Guide Magazine before helping to answer fundraising phones. "Cancer is a disease that doesn't discriminate. Everyone knows at least one person who has had the disease, or they've had it themselves. It's time we stop taking it and kick this disease's butt. The money we're raising tonight is a good start."

 Want more True Blood scoop? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

 Come Sunday, when the third season finale of his HBO series airs, Trammell says you can expect to see more of the "fed-up, darker, meaner Sam. He's taken a turn over the last few episodes. The Sam drama continues in the finale and there's a big cliffhanger. I'll get very angry. I will be shooting a gun. My brother is just one person who best look out."

With all this talk of a cliffhanger, and creator Alan Ball's previous teases that someone important will likely die, should fans be taking Sam in a death pool? "I'm not going to say yes or no because I don't want to ruin the finale for anyone. But between you and me, Sam fans should not worry too much about his return next season. Eric fans on the other hand ... as we saw last week, him and the King might be toast. I think I'm safe."

And even if he isn't, Trammell would leave a happy thespian. "The last half of the season was some of the funnest stuff I've gotten to do on the show because it was so different. They warned me that I'd be doing some crazy stuff and that I'd kill someone, but I didn't know how it would manifest," he says. "It has been so much fun to get to play angry and be mean to people. Usually Sam is just so nice and so helpful. I was getting a little sick of him being stepped on, pushed over and taken advantage of. I was glad we did the flashbacks. They gave great back story and insight into Sam and who he was before and why he might be the way he is now."

Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!